Uncategorized

Liam.saxophone@gmail.com

Liam Burden graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a BMus  and a BMusHons cum laude. He specialized in saxophone performance under Darryl Walters. During his Honours year Liam was afforded the opportunity of studying abroad at the West Virginia University in the United States of America where he studied saxophone with Dr Michael Ibrahim and conducting with Dr Mitchell Arnold. In collaboration with the composition department, Liam successfully conducted the first KOMPOS concert which included works composed by the students for the event. In 2009 Liam collaborated with the University of Stellenbosch Drama Department, and Peter Krummeck, as the musical director for the play with music entitled Brothers.

Liam has been a member of staff at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre since January 2012 where he teaches saxophone and clarinet. Liam is conductor of the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra.

drawalters@gmail.com

Darryl Walters had his musical training at Kneller Hall, London, under the principal clarinet of the Covent Garden Opera House, Maurice Cody. He then spent three years in Detmold, Germany, based with the Royal Scots Grey Band and toured extensively throughout Europe. After leaving the army he enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music for three years, where he studied clarinet under Wilfred Kealey, bass clarinet under Stephen Trier, saxophones under the late Michael Krien and the flute under Jane Davis. After leaving Guildhall he toured with various orchestras and continued his studies with world renowned clarinettists and principal clarinet of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jack Brymer.

Upon coming to South Africa, Darryl Walters played in the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra for six years and ten years with the CAPAB orchestra. He also freelanced as an ad hoc member for the SABC orchestra and Durban orchestra. Highlights from his performing career have included tours with singing superstar Natalie Cole, recording for early television programmes and performing Artie Shaw’s clarinet concerto.

Darryl Walters was a founding member of the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre where he was head of department of the Woodwinds from its inception in 1986 until his retirement. During his tenure at the music centre Darryl conducted the “Swing Band”. Many of his students have gone on to become professional performing musicians and music teachers not only in South Africa but throughout the rest of the world. Darryl is still actively involved in music education in Cape Town and the surrounding areas and lectures saxophone at Stellenbosch University.

lerienne@gmail.com

Lerienne’s passion for the flute started under the tutelage of Liesl Stoltz. She continued to study with her at the University of Cape Town where she competed her BMus degree in 2011. There she received distinction for flute as well as appearing on the Dean’s Merit List for Academic Achievement. In 2015 Lerienne completed her MMus degree, Cum Laude, under Professor Corvin Matei at Stellenbosch University.

Lerienne has played as a soloist with the University of Cape Town Orchestra as well as the Rhodes University Orchestra. She has also performed with various orchestras and has played as a session musician for numerous local films and music productions.

Lerienne started her teaching career in 2010 and has since been passionately teaching at numerous schools and institutions.

benedetta@oliomio.co.za

Benedetta Lami was born in Rome, Italy. After spending her childhood in cities such as Teheran, Singapore and Paris, she returned to Italy to complete her High School studies. She then went on to graduate with distinction in Political Science at the University of Florence. During this time, she was also a private tutor and hostess for fashion events & conferences. In 2001, Benedetta moved to Stellenbosch where she has been living with her husband and son, ever since.

Over the course of her professional career, Benedetta has worked as a PA to the Chairperson of a Lobbying and Public Affairs Company in Rome and extensively in the fashion industry as Sales Person in the Versace show-room in Milan, and Responsible for the Press Office and PR for a fashion designer in Milan.

At present, she is the Sole Agent for South Africa for Mori-TEM, an Italian company which produces olive oil extraction equipment, and a Professional Olive Oil Taster and competition judge. Benedetta has also been teaching Italian at the Dante Alighieri School in Stellenbosch since 2008 and has been a part-time lecturer (Italian for Singers) at Stellenbosch University since 2010.

Benedetta speaks fluent Italian (mother tongue), English, French as well as conversational Spanish.

The passion for classical music and opera runs in her family. Her great-grandfather, Maestro Marco Falgheri (1872-1919), born in Ostuni (Italy), was a violinist, conductor and composer, and a great friend of Maestro Cilea. This passion gripped Benedetta at a very young age when she attended her first opera, Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida performed at the Roman ruins of Caracalla, at the age of 9.

laurendasappa@sun.ac.za

Durban born soprano, Lauren Dasappa is a dynamic and committed musical artist exhibiting expressive music-making that deeply touches the emotions of audiences, connecting with people from all walks of life.

Dasappa has performed numerous operatic roles including acclaimed performances as Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte,  Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) – Mozart – Da Ponte trilogy and Gretel in Humperdick’s “Hansel and Gretel”. She has in addition to this performed many oratorio and Baroque works which allowed her the opportunity of touring with Baroque orchestra, Baroque 2000.

Dasappa maintains an extensive concert repertoire of standard and modern works and is profoundly supportive of the revival of the art song recital. Lauren appears frequently with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and hence has performed at major international in addition to numerous nationwide events.

Dasappa’s voice, although classically trained, is not limited to classical music, as she has extended herself to lighter works, winning a Theatre award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the Fairy Godmother in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. She has similarly excelled in popular music and was awarded an international recording contract with Universal Studios as an undergrad.

Dasappa conducts vocal workshops, coaches vocal ensembles and soloists for major productions. Her deep dedication to her musical career both when she takes to the stage and to her students, is reflected and reciprocally amplified by her performances and the immense results achieved from her students at Stellenbosch University’s music department, where she currently lectures in Classical Voice.

jolenemccleland@gmail.com

South African Mezzo Soprano Jolene McCleland, studied music and voice (BMus) (cum laude) at  Stellenbosch University and a post-graduate diploma in opera (completed with distinction) at the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien in Austria. In January 2015 she was appointed as singing lecturer at Stellenbosch University.

Jolene’s European debut was realised with the role of Cain’s Lamb in the European Premiere of Tsippi Fleischer’s Cain and Abel in 2005 in the Semperdepot, Vienna. Since then she has performed many roles including Dorabella in Cosí fan tutte, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Second Lady in The Magic Flute (Japan Tour), Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Jolene is also becoming a specialist in the Modern Opera field, having performed Die Spinne in Max Nagl’s world premiere of the opera Camilo Chamäleon and a soloist in Titus Hollweg’s interpretation of Milhaud’s Opéras-Minutes at the Carinthian Music Festival (Austria) in 2011. In the same year she recorded with the great contemporary American Composer, Nancy van de Vate, performing the role of Queen Gertrude in the opera Hamlet with the Moravian Philharmonic.

An acclaimed Lied interpreter, recently she performed a Liederabend together with the Schubertbund Choir in the Golden Hall of the Music Society,Vienna. Since 2012, she regularly tours as soloist with the Johann Strauss Ensemble, performing in Austria, Turkey, Croatia and Algeria.

In the field of oratorio, McCleland is a sought-out alto soloist, performing regularly in the big cathedrals of Vienna, Austria. In December 2013 she had the honour of performing the alto solo in Handel’s Messiah with the Slovenian Radio Orchestra in the Cankarjev Dom in Ljublana.

In Oktober 2014 she performed the role of Elektra in the Austrian Debut of Michael Trojahn’s proclaimed opera Orest at the Museumsquartier in Vienna
In 2015 she was invited to perform Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Brandon Phillips and the Orchestra and Choir of the New Apostolic Church. She sang three world premieres at the Komposimposium, works composed by Antoni Schonken, Keith Moss and Hans Roosenschoon. Her show Mood Swings – roles of a Mezzo debuted at the Endler Hall. She also performed with Niel Rademann and Paul Loeb van Zuilenburg and the Stellenbosch City Orchestra at Lourensford Wine Estate. In 2016 she shares the stage with them once more, this time at the Oude Libertas Amphitheatre, while her show, A Viennese Affair, with Wilken Calitz and Elna van der Merwe, was performed at the Stellenbosch University’s Woordfees.

aehuyssen@sun.ac.za

pearce@sun.ac.za

Minette began her vocal training in 1993 under the tutelage of Magdalena Oosthuizen. She received the degrees BMus, BMus (Hons) and MMus (Cum Laude) specialising in singing. She completed the University of South Africa (UNISA) Teachers and Performance Licentiates (both Cum Laude) and received the DJ Roode Overseas Scholarship, the Gertrude Buchanan and SAMRO prize during the UNISA bursary competitions. She was the overall winner of the ATKV Musiq competition as well as winner of the singing category and the Mozart prize. She was named first runner up in the SAMRO International Scholarship competition and also won the prize for best performance of a prescribed work. In 2009 she was a finalist in the Kohn Foundation Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in London. In 2010 she was also a finalist in the American Institute of Musical Studies’ (AIMS) Meistersinger Competition in Graz.

She attended several summer schools such as Ticino Musica in Lugano and AIMS in Graz, receiving lessons from Barbara Bonney, Michelle Crider and Michelle Breedt.

She regularly performs as a soloist in Oratorio and her repertoire includes Händel’s Messiah, the St Matthew’s Passion, St John’s Passion and B minor Mass by Bach, Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins and Mozart’s Requiem to name a few. Minette is an accomplished singer of lieder both locally and abroad and regularly performs at The Songmakers’ Guild in Cape Town. In 2017 she was nominated for a WoordTROfee for her performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. She has performed with all major orchestras in South Africa, most notably the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra.

Minette has performed at several National Arts Festivals in South Africa including the KKNK, Klein Karoo Klassique, AARDKLOP, Woordfees, Cultivaria, Suidooster Fees, Hermanus FynArts and Greyton Classics for All Festival. She has been nominated for three Kyknet Fiësta awards for her contribution to classical music at an arts festival. In 2015 she travelled to France and sang several concerts with the South African pianist Ilse Schumann and baritone Niël Rademan.

Minette regularly adjudicates at Eisteddfods and often travels outside of South Africa to Namibia and Zimbabwe to teach and perform. Since 2016 she has travelled to Maputo, Mozambique to perform at the Xiquitsi Mùsica Clàssica festival, where she also presented master classes. She is the head of the Singing Division at Stellenbosch University and fills the position of Senior Lecturer in Singing. She runs a very successful series of workshops “Working with Young Voices” and regularly presents these to teachers and singers. Minette made her American debut when she performed as soloist in Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis in July. She also accompanied the orchestra on their South African tour as part of their Mandela 100 celebrations.

roxanesteffen@gmail.com

Roxane Steffen started her musical education at the age of 6 with violin at the Music School of Delft, The Netherlands. At the age of 8 she started cello lessons and changed to double bass when she was 16. After finishing her studies for Performance Diploma at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague she got her first contract for TuK Double Bass with The Netherlands Ballet Orchestra in Amsterdam and filled the position of Sub-Principal with Holland Symfonia from 2002-2006. In 2004 Roxane took a sabbatical to come to Cape Town for one year to fill the position of Sub-Principal Double Bass in The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). In January 2006 she resigned her job in The Netherlands to return to Cape Town to fill the position of Principal Double Bass with the CPO and has not left Cape Town since. Roxane is currently lecturing at the South African College of Music (University of Cape Town), the Stellenbosch University and is a guest lecturer at the Xiquitsi Project in Maputo, Mozambique and works closely with The Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Next to her job at the CPO, teaching and other chamber music projects she plays concerts promo4ng the solo double bass and played Allan Stephenson’s Burlesque for Double Bass and small orchestra with the CPO in October 2021 at their symphony season. Roxane is also a qualified Personal Trainer and Yoga instructor and uses both disciplines in her lessons. During 2020, the year of lock down, Roxane has developed a passion for video editing which resulted in making various videos for the CPO and starting the YouTube channel ‘Cape Town MotoLife’ where Roxane combines her love for riding motorbikes with creating videos. 

ingepwh@gmail.com

Inge Wessels began her harp studies with Cathleen Alistair and continued at the Johannesburg Art, Ballet, Drama and Music School with Hester Krausey. She obtained her B.Mus. (cum laude) and B.Mus. Hon. degrees at the University of Stellenbosch under Jane Theron, where she was awarded the Conservatoire Stipendium. Inge furthered her studies with Marielle Nordmann and Joanna Kozielska in Paris, France.

Harp lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch since 2010, Inge performs as a chamber musician and has played in various orchestras, including the University of Stellenbosch and Cape Philharmonic Orchestras. She has taken part in international harp festivals in Wales (The World Harp Festival in Cardiff) and Japan (as a member of a 40+ Harp Ensemble Festival under the late Dr. Mimura in Hakone and Tokyo). Inge has also attended master classes with harpists Isabelle Perrin (France), Mario Falcao (USA), Sebastian Lipmann (Australia), David Watkins (UK) and Marielle Nordmann (at the Academie Internationale d’Ete de Nice, France).